


When Farewell Became Final

by talefeathers



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Character Death, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Implied Relationships, M/M, Past Relationship(s), Sad, Sibling Love, Siblings, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-26
Updated: 2017-10-26
Packaged: 2019-01-23 07:54:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 622
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12502536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/talefeathers/pseuds/talefeathers
Summary: Vax'ildan disappears shortly after Gilmore's burial.  Vex'ahlia gives him a head start before following behind.





	When Farewell Became Final

**Author's Note:**

> I don't usually like to write fic for things I'm not caught up on (as of writing this I'm about halfway through Episode 41), but ever since Vox Machina were first separated from Gilmore during Thordak's attack on Emon I have had this scene rolling around in my head, and I figure you gotta seize on inspiration where you can find it, you know? 
> 
> So enjoy some angst!

Vex’ahlia hadn’t noticed her brother leaving, and couldn’t have said how soon after the burial he had gone. Still, she put a fifteen-minute buffer between realizing that he was missing and leaving herself to track him down. He, more than any of them, had a right to some space today.

She followed his tracks deep into the woods that bordered Emon. He’d been careful, but as good as Vax was at covering tracks, Vex was equally good at uncovering them. She found him after about half an hour’s creeping through the underbrush, slumped against a massive oak in the heart of the forest. She’d almost missed him, wrapped up in that enchanted cloak of his, but trust in her tracking and knowledge of her brother’s tricks led her focus to just the right humanoid shift in the foliage.

She stopped, still several feet away, wondering if she should approach him or give him a moment more. She hadn’t been wondering long, however, when her brother saved her the trouble of deciding.

“I know you’re there,” he said.

Vex’s lips quirked into a brief echo of a grin. As always, it seemed that two could play at their stealthy game. She stepped out from behind the tree she’d been using for cover and moved toward him.

“I wanted to make sure you were all right,” she said, taking a seat beside him.

“You know I’m not all right,” Vax said, leaning into her without hesitation.

“I know,” Vex sighed. “I suppose there isn’t much reason for you to be.”

They were quiet, then. This in itself wasn’t unusual; the twins’ connection was such that they rarely had to speak to know what the other was thinking. Vex had a feeling, however, that even if this hadn’t been the case, she couldn’t have broken the silence that fell between them now. Sometimes, there was just nothing to be said.

It was Vax who spoke up, just as Vex was beginning to feel sore from sitting on the hard ground.

“The last thing I said to him.” 

His voice barely rasped past his throat. Vex’ahlia listened as his breathing shallowed, felt her brother start to tremble beside her. She turned just in time to watch his face crumple. 

“I broke his heart!” Vax’ildan sobbed.

“Oh, Vax.” 

Vex pulled him close, wrapping around him tightly as if she would absorb the shudders that shook him. He clutched at her as if for purchase, as if to keep himself from falling from some deadly height. And he wept, loudly and bitterly.

“I know you were not cruel to him,” Vex assured him, pressing her forehead against his. “Not like I might have been, if it had been me. You haven’t the stomach for it.”

That earned her a watery chuckle. She brushed her brother’s hair from his face.

“I know you,” she continued. “I know how you cared for him. I know you were gentle with him. And I know that _he_ knew --” 

She stopped for a moment when her voice broke. She swallowed against a tightness that had risen in her throat.

“Gilmore knew that you loved him, Vax,” she said finally, unable to stop her own tears from falling as she did.

She drew away from him, then, but only far enough to press a firm kiss to his forehead before pulling him back to her. He let himself fall into her, unwound his frantic muscles and allowed himself to be held.

“Do not go far from me,” he whispered again, the same way he had whispered to her at Greyskull Keep. “Please.”

“I never will,” Vex said, and though she’d never been a prayerful woman, she prayed that she was right. “I never will.”


End file.
